Girls With Luv

TWENTY-NINE Liya

"Do you really think the empty beach house will make any difference to her?" April asks as we walk back towards our soon-to-be-left-behind vacation home after spending almost two hours like good for nothing window shoppers.

"If my calculations are right, it will make a huge difference." I smirk and she bursts out laughing. "I mean, she went on the date. He will walk her back. Some weird confrontation will happen, which will result in one of them kissing the other. And in that moment, unlocking the door is the first thing that will come to anyone's mind. Simple."

"So you had all this planned out very carefully..?"

"Of course. That stupid child needs a push once in a while and I'm happy to give it to her."

"Makes sense." She sighs as we reach the parking space. "I'm gonna miss this place. It has been quite awesome and just what I needed."

"I know. Maybe we can come back sometime later."

"Sure. Twenty four thousand meltdowns later, I believe." We laugh and casually talk about the boring lifestyle we will have to fall back into. I'm not gonna lie, I really wanna stay back and when I think about how I actually considered taking a break from swimming, it makes all the more sense to me. Of course, my friends know nothing about this.

We reach the beach house and unlock the door, making sufficiently loud sounds in case Noah is still here. But since we don't hear anything in response, I mentally slap Spencer for wasting a perfect opportunity. April looks at me questioningly and I just shrug. What else can I do? But then I spot something and let my smirk grow.

"Maybe they aren't back yet." She says and grabs an apple from the fruit bowl. I shake my head and point at Spencer's sneakers which lie haphazardly in two separate corners of the floor, suggesting that they were thrown out in haste. Spence is one messy human but weirdly enough, her shoes are never a part of that mess. April's eyes widen and she jumps from the kitchen counter. We tip-toe our way towards the living room, only to find Spencer's petite body sitting by the pool. After sharing a glance, we go and sit next to her.

"Hey," I say and put my head on her shoulder. "How was the date?"

"It was nice. I had fun." She grins and April clears her throat.

"What kind of fun?" She asks and waggles her eyebrows, making Spence roll her eyes.

"It was low-key. We walked along the beach, had lunch in a cafe, met with some fans and then ended up here. And no, nothing major happened. We stopped before getting carried away and it was the right decision."

"Understandable. So where is Noah?"

"He left like ten minutes ago. We might go out for dinner again." She gives out a sigh of satisfaction and I spot a genuinely happy yet faded smile on her face.

"You still think it's a bad idea?"

"No, I kinda made my peace with it. Noah put it in perspective and I agreed with him somehow. It just sucks that I will not have this next week." She sighs again and leans her head against mine. We stay silent for a while and let the breeze caress us.

"Yeah, it sucks." April says. "But you know what? At least you had something to want more. I think that's good enough for a while." She pats Spencer's head and the three of us hold each other silently. I love these little moments of tender sisterhood that we share. In a world that continues to be an unfortunate apologist of patriarchy and misogyny despite all the efforts made otherwise, female bonding is the only blessing that us women can hold on to. If we start tearing each other apart senselessly, god only knows what will come of us.

"I wanna take a break from swimming." I suddenly blurt out and they both turn their heads to stare at me, urging me to continue. "I've been thinking about it for a while now and this vacation has been so healing. I'd like for it to stay that way for a little longer."